well, i waltzed out of college with philosophy and psychology B.A.s a few years ago. i'll tell what any i remember of it, as the circumfrance of my world back in that comfy, safe academic trip in relation to where i'm at now but only 3 years after that artsy sciencey safety net was pulled out me has been so sizable, it's more the catalyst that came from losing my identity as a college student and spiraling out into that great wide whirrrrled that made the bigger splash on my consciousness. seems like academic philosophy and psychedelics and all that college life was more of a cacoon of sorts where a sanctuary of fascination came into place deep in my psyche. if religion is the opium of the masses as ol' Marx would say, it was those endless nights of philosophy readings abd writings and meditating and psychedelics were the buddings of the opium of me. that is, when the "real world" gets down right painful from time to time, i got a real strong pain reliever close to me as my own skin n' i go down that rabbit hole and land in a treasure of knowledge.
heheh, but yeah, there has to be sumpin' concrete i could offer you... hnmmmm
at my university, philosophy was by far the easiest undergrad degree to ascertain if one was so inclined. by that i mean, other than the tiers, aka general education requirements, the requirements were a meager 40 hrs of philosophy, including introduction to philosophy, modern philosophy, political philosophy, symbolic logic and i believe it was at least 3 courses over the 400 level.
occupationally, it was suggested that a philosophy BA held some merrit if one intended to enter law school, a seminary school, or continuing philosophy studies in grad school.
at ohio university, it seemed at any given time it averaged that there were only 5 philosophy majors in the whole damned department, yet there were at least a good 20 or more classes being offered a quarter. combine this with the fact that unlike psychology for example, there were seldomly ever a prerequisite to a class except perhaps for some of the 400 level classes, philosophy studentts there ended up gypsy rogues amongst a sea of kids enrolled in your class often with the most dubious motives. after all, con artistry BS skills shine on a philosophy essay when getting those pesky humanities courses out of the way... can't escape it in a history course, no room for interpretation when it comes to plugging in the date of the great schism n' such... thus, the philosophy student holds a greater burden than merely making the grade if he strives to be anything more than a twerp at my ol' school. i never sat through more than a day of class for philosophy if i didn't bond with the professor - there real value revealed itself in one on one appointments out of class, where you could really pick their brain and get let in to some of the inside dope gems of information they have to offer. --- The head of my philosophy department, who I did an independent study of Mysticism with, wound up being a student of Mircea Eliade
man was that an awesome yet at other times hellish nightmare of an experience - i foolishly asked one very intelligent Gnostic member for some suggestions on some challenging readings for my study and on one of my off days from the acid and dmt and what not charmed a philosophy professor into endorsing my undertakings. when two totally uncompromising, pigheaded men (seemed like a personality flaw that drew us to this field or something) are stuck with each other one on one a few hours a week - the head of the philosophy department, a man grounded in a lifetime of scholarly sensabilities and an acidhead hanging on to the desk in his office as to not float away on astral vibes was quite the comedy, but i wound up forming this totally unhealthy mania towards those texts of Otto and James etc., where the normal frustration/achievement model towards accomplishing a complete understanding of a material didn't jive at all with how my psychedelic experiences were informing me to digest the material and sometimes it seemed like this OCD masochism wracking my brain exhausting myself in ways that would have provided results had it been a Calculus class - meanwhile my friends took art classes and had f'n righteous art galleries at the bars etc, there hearts and passions weren't tied up in the whole success/failure frustration/achievement models of motivation i was wrapped up in, and it painfully obvious to me but that understanding doesn't necessarily free one from its effects.
so, philosophical undertakings require readiness, and mistakenly identifying myself as a whiz kid aiming to produce a philosophical masterpiece is a pretty awful existential limbo to burden oneself with, as is trying to beat the system and retain the deep consciousness revealed through psychedelics while shrugging off disciplines like pranayam exercises.
that indepedent study took me 3 quarters to procure my 5 credits, one of which i totally avoided my prof to the point of ducking out of rooms in Ellis if i heard his voice. he didn't fail me though, part of what was so maddening about it all was that he would throw my papers back in my face until they earned an A, and would break the ice when we'd run into each other a month later saying "there's my prodigal son!"
the best experience i had in the philosophy department came the following year with my Taoism professor. he was actually a student of Alan Watts when he was a Chaplin at Berkeley. our class was real small, about 9 or 10 of us, and our desks were in a circle and we'd take turns reading passages Chaung Tsu n' wrap about it. after my buddy and i made him dinner and got blazed (was my friend's audacity to pull out a J) he told me to write my final paper on Huxley's Perrenial Philosophy and then confessed he wouldn't be teaching next year.... i asked him "awwwh, why?" and he said his wife was expecting and being that he was definately in his 70's and being stoned to the bone i said "expecting what???" his wife was having twins!
annnnnnnyways, for better or worse, i've chronicled ya some of my academic philosophy misadventures. oy.... lol.
peace,
CJ
--------------------
Everything is better than it was the last time. I'm good.
If we could look into each others hearts, and understand the unique challenges each of us faces, I think we would treat each other much more gently, with more love, patience, tolerance, and care.
It takes a lot of courage to go out there and radiate your essence.
I know you scared, you should ask us if we scared too. If you was there, and we just knew you cared too.
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